One health, one world

By : Professor Dirk Pfeiffer, Chair Professor of One Health, College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences

At that time, I was thinking more about how I would work in a veterinary clinic and look after large and small animals in rural Germany. But during my university studies in the 1980s, I was privileged to take part in veterinary development projects in Colombia, Kenya, Malaysia, Somalia and Thailand which exposed me to a world that was totally different from the one I had grown up in. I also discovered that veterinary diagnostic and prognostic decision-making was actually about dealing with probabilities and uncertainties rather than certainties.

As a result, I got interested in learning how to study the causation of animal disease, so that I could contribute to the scientific knowledge that may reduce the uncertainty associated with the decision-making processes. In this context, I also began to realise that it is important to develop a holistic perspective of the eco-social systems within which animal health and welfare issues occur, and that factors such as culture, climate, vegetation, people, politics and institutions are influential when it comes to disease risks.

But back then, the term One Health had not yet come into existence yet. In fact, scientific research operated within
“–ologies”, with scientists pursuing excellence within the boundaries of their own disciplines, resulting in what some call a “silo mentality”. And indeed my high school and undergraduate veterinary medicine education still led me to believe that meaningful scientific endeavour was primarily a reductionist activity, and furthermore that for producing solutions to animal health and welfare problems, only knowledge generated through biomedical research was required.

The widely accepted assumption was that once knowledge was available, it was “just a matter of educating animal keepers” and the problem would be solved. We now know that in case of complex animal health and welfare problems it is necessary to obtain sufficient knowledge about the drivers within the eco-social systems within which they occur. This requires recognising that these usually include the behaviour of animal keepers, and that potential interventions will have to lead to human behaviour change, which requires knowledge generated by social sciences.

This is an example of interdisciplinary research, which CityU has adopted as one of its strategic themes. This approach aims to generate integrated knowledge by bringing together different scientific disciplines. It has only been promoted more widely in the last 5 to 10 years, and that happened as a consequence of policymakers becoming frustrated by the lack of true impact of government-funded research in many countries.

I did my PhD in New Zealand and ended up spending 11 years in this particular eco-social system, which is completely different from Europe. It was during this period that I got into research. I was curious to find out how bovine tuberculosis disease spreads in New Zealand. The possum, a marsupial animal introduced from Australia in the 19th century, plays a role in the spread of infection, but it was unclear how cattle became infected and how the disease could be managed more effectively. With my research, I focused on how the tuberculosis bacteria spread between the possums, and for that I needed to learn how to catch, mark and recapture them in the New Zealand bush on a monthly basis for over a year. It was an exciting, life-changing experience.

My interest in the translation of science into policy at the farm and government level began while I was teaching and conducting research in New Zealand. The interaction with government policy makers became more intensive after I moved to the UK to take on a position as Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College in London, where I spent 17 years. There, I was able to work with senior government animal health managers from various European countries. That ability to contribute to national animal health and welfare extended to the European Union (EU) where I was fortunate to serve on the Scientific Panel for Animal Health and Welfare of EU’s Food Safety Authority for six years. Moreover, I have also had the privilege to work with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation in various scientific advisory roles for the last 18 years.

“We need to conduct research that is useful to society, and direct engagement with policy makers makes that possible.” I firmly believe that we need to conduct research that is useful to society, and direct engagement with policy makers makes that possible. During that process I learned to accept that quite often scientific evidence may well have less influence on policy decisions than political, economic or social factors. Still, scientists have an essential role, in that they have to generate meaningful knowledge about cause-effect relationships and, if possible, remain an independent voice in the policy development process, so that members of society can trust them! This has become even more important since we have had to deal with “new ideas” such as “alternative facts” and “fake news”.

The primary purpose of CityU’s pioneering undergraduate programme in veterinary medicine is to train students to become clinicians working with small animals, horses and livestock. However, I offer myself as an example, both to veterinary undergraduates and graduates alike, that a rich variety of careers awaits trained veterinarians in areas such as food safety, production animal medicine, zoo or wild animal studies, equine medicine, fish health, among many others.

Sometimes I wonder how my life would have developed had I stayed in Germany attending to livestock in the countryside. Maybe it would have been just as satisfying a career. I will never know. But if you have just started your studies to become a veterinarian, there is no reason to only focus on working in a small animal clinic in Mongkok, for example. You have a lot of other options, and there are many countries and different eco-social contexts that you can work in, and your career can also change direction, if you feel that is necessary. The opportunities are out there for you to have an exciting career!

The Jockey Club One Health Tower